Recent tragic incidents have reinvigorated police critics, especially in the context of a broader national discussion about crime and race. Here in New York City, critics object, in particular, to the NYPD’s long-standing practice of maintaining order in public spaces – the practice widely referred to as Broken Windows policing.

In 1787, James Madison wrote that “the State Legislatures will sometimes fail or refuse to consult the common interest at the expense of their local conveniency or prejudices.”
In 2008, and again in 2010, California voters used ballot initiatives to virtually exclude the Legislature from the redistricting process and, in so d

Given the obsession with economic inequality, you might think it’s the main force squeezing the middle class. It isn’t. We have this not from some right-wing think tank but from President Obama’s top economists. The bigger culprit, they show, is the slow growth of productivity.
The White House Council of Economic Advise

Suppose there was a banquet for 100 people and at the end of the night it was time to split the bill of $50 per person. If that bill were paid for the way we pay our income taxes, here is how it would work.
Those in the top half of income would pay roughly $97 each and those in the bottom half of the income would pay an average of $3 eac

Fighting racism, prejudice and the violence those can beget is everyone’s job. Muslims would do well to respond to President Obama's invitation to combat extremist ideas in their communities, but too often Washington’s broader policies toward minorities encourage just the opposite.
Ideologies of love and hate have a lot in co

Gov. Jerry Brown has twisted himself into a series of contradictions, opposing state environmental rules that he previously supported, and selectively deferring to the federal government – all in the name of keeping the state high-speed rail project crawling along.
Since 2007 the California High-Speed Rail Authority has promised th

WASHINGTON – A sunset clause?
The news from the nuclear talks with Iran was already troubling. Iran was being granted the “right to enrich.” It would be allowed to retain and spin thousands of centrifuges. It could continue construction of the Arak plutonium reactor. Yet so thoroughly was Iran stonewalling International

A federal judge has temporarily blocked President Obama’s executive order that overrode existing immigration law. The result is more acrimony and chaos.
It is a good time to remember that there are more than just two types of immigration – legal and illegal. There also exist liberal and illiberal approaches to immigration.

Sunday, filmmakers and movie stars will walk the red carpet at the Academy Awards.
However, this is not the only time of the year Hollywood receives special treatment. California taxpayers fund Oscar-nominated films through expensive tax credits gifted to the motion picture industry.
All eight films nominated for Best Picture wer

Same-sex marriage now is legal in 37 states (and about 10 other states have become bi-curious), but apparently not in Alabama. After two federal court decisions gave gays the OK to walk down the aisle, elected Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore did his best imitation of George Wallace's "Jim Crow standing in the schoolhouse door." He instructed Ala

Opponents of charter schools have claimed that these schools are “cherry-picking” the students they admit and that this explains why many charter schools get better educational results with less money than public schools do.
Many controversies about how students should be admitted to educational institutions, especially those

WASHINGTON – I’ve been radicalized. By Harry Reid and Barack Obama. Goodbye moderation and sweet reason. No more clinging to constitutional and procedural restraint. It’s time to go nuclear.
In the fourth quarter of his presidency, Obama unbound is abusing presidential authority at will to secure a legacy on everything

World War II was the most destructive war in history. What caused it?
The panic from the ongoing and worldwide Depression in the 1930s had empowered extremist movements the world over. Like-minded, violent dictators of otherwise quite different Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, Imperial Japan and Communist Soviet Union all wanted to attack th

WASHINGTON – We are not getting our money’s worth from “creative destruction.” For history buffs, the phrase will be familiar. Coined by Joseph Schumpeter – one of the 20th century’s towering economists – it defines a central characteristic of capitalism. Capitalism expands material well-being by replaci

As businesses across America struggle under the tremendous burden of Obamacare, those who voice any objection to its onerous rules risk being singled out by our president. Such is the case with Staples which, according to the trustworthy new information source Buzzfeed, has cut the hours of some employees to lessen the cost of Obamacare.